Promoting your athletics club at freshers’ events requires a strategic approach to engage students and maximize sign-ups. Here are some ideas to help:
1. Attractive Stall Setup
- Banners and Visuals: Use eye-catching banners, high-quality images of past events, training sessions, and competitions to create a dynamic display.
- Videos: Play highlight reels of club activities to showcase what joining the club looks like in action.
- Club Merchandise: Display club-branded gear like jerseys or track jackets to spark interest.
- Data collection: Use a laptop, tablet or smartphone to capture email addresses. Use an online form such as Google Forms or Microsoft Forms if you have direct internet access, or a word or excel file if internet access is an issue.
- Know your audience: When talking to interested students, try to gauge their level of experience in the sport. If they are a novice, highlight the inclusive nature of the club. If they are a serious athlete, highlight how the club can support them and the competition opportunities availble to them.
2. Membership Incentives
- Free Trials or Taster Sessions: Offer free trial sessions for newcomers to experience the club before committing.
- Discounts on Membership: Consider early sign-up discounts for those who register during freshers’ week.
3. Engaging Marketing Material
- Flyers and QR Codes: Hand out flyers with information on training times, social media, and a QR code linking to the club’s website, instagram and/or sign-up page.
- Social Media Promotion: Share live updates, videos, and stories about your freshers’ stall and any giveaways, creating excitement around joining.
- Email blast: With the email addresses acquired at Freshers and other events, send information about joining the club. Contain information about training times, social media, membership incentives etc.
4. Focus on Community and Development
- Inclusive Message: Highlight that your club is for all abilities—whether they’re seasoned athletes or complete beginners. The majority of club members will have little experience in track and field. Don’t put them off by stressing the competitive side of things too much.
- Social Aspect: Promote the social side of the club to show it’s a way to make friends beyond athletics.
5. Personal Connections
- Friendly Club Representatives: Have outgoing club members, ideally current students, on the stall and actively engage with passersby, sharing their personal experiences.
6. Welcome Events
- Avoid ‘initiations’: Initiations at university have a bad reputation and could actively put off potential members.
- Host representative events: Host welcome events that are representative of the club’s activities and culture. These should be free and at a convenient time and place. For example, a school sports day at the training ground followed by a picnic or pub trip.
What worked for you?
What has worked for your club? Do you have more advice that other clubs would find helpful? Email hello@london-atheltics.com to add your contribution to this page.